Alternatives
by giacinta
Summary: Season eight, episode one, in an AU version. An unexpected character returns to the brothers' lives Chapter one.


Alternatives

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The figure stood in the darkness, perfectly camouflaged by the obscurity as he watched the tall young man come striding out of the modest house and enter the car.

Although they say that in the darkness all cats are grey, the onlooker already knew that the vehicle's colour was black and that it was a Chevrolet Impala, just as he knew that the man who folded himself into the driving seat was Sam Winchester.

He lingered for a moment until the car moved off and then made his way to his own.

The Impala would be easy to follow even at a distance. At this time of night it would be the only car on the road. He would see just where Sam was going.

He hoped he would find him alone, for everything would be easier to explain eye to eye.

X

X

Dean had cleaned himself up as best he could after his trudge through the woods earlier that day.

Rufus' cabin wasn't exactly the Ritz but it at least had running water so definitely a big improvement over Purgatory where other than a quick dangerous dip in one of the occasional bodies of water he had stumbled across, hygiene hadn't been high on his priorities; staying alive had and one of the motives that had kept him going was the overwhelming desire to get back to his brother.

Sammy needed him and he needed Sammy. It was a given in their two-man world and always would be; the essentialness of being in each other's physical presence.

He had tried calling his brother on all the phone numbers he could remember but there had been no response, making him even more worried and anxious to track him down.

He didn't want to consider the possibility that Sam had been hurt, so the extreme solution of his little brother lying dead somewhere wasn't even going to be taken into consideration.

X

He heard a car pulling up outside, the roar of the engine as familiar to him as his own heartbeat, and where the Impala was, Sam couldn't be far behind.

He could only imagine how upset his little brother must have been when he had disappeared in Roman's laboratory, for he knew how desperate he would have been if the opposite had happened and it had been Sam who had been whisked away before his eyes.

Strange that Sam should turn up with the Impala the very day that he got out of Purgatory, like some homing pigeon returning to roost. Dean didn't bother trying to analyze it; he just accepted their unusual closeness as normality.

X

Suddenly Dean felt in a playful mood, the harshness of Purgatory momentarily forgotten. He was about to see his brother after a whole year, surely that was a reason for a little messing around.

He stood silently behind the door until it was pushed open and threw himself onto his brother, for that's definitely who it was; the familiar feel and scent of Sammy filled his heart.

He floored him as he had done once before at Stanford; big brothers had to keep their authority over their younger siblings after all; continually show them who's boss!

X

He pulled him up and into a hug, Dean's eyes closing in thanks and relief at being able to embrace his brother once again. He held on for as long as he could, enjoying their closeness and the feeling of Sam surrounding him tightly with his freaky long arms; knowing that Sam was lost in the moment as much as he was.

But as they broke apart and Sam explained to him that he had run from the laboratory without searching for him, Dean felt a terrible emptiness taking the place of the pleasure he had just experienced in seeing his little brother again.

He could hardly believe the words coming from Sam's mouth.

They had always looked for each other and even if they had been 'normal' siblings, the first instinct when a family member disappeared would be at least to try and find out why.

X

Sam however was spouting off his reason for not looking, which was that his world 'imploded' and he ran.

Dean huffed ironically at the excuse.

Sam was the toughest son of a bitch out there after him. There was no way that _**his**_ Sam would have abandoned him so easily.

Somehow he was reminded of Robo-Sam in the way his brother had thrown out his explanation but he had no reason to believe that Sam was soulless.

However something **_was_** wrong here, his intuition told him so.

He wasn't; he couldn't accept Sam's blasé explanation. There had to be something else.

He tried again to get a more detailed account of Sam's reasoning but his brother seemed incapable or unwilling to explain further.

Dean turned away; what he had thought o be a happy moment had been ruined by the strange behaviour of his brother. Sam hadn't even tried to sweeten the pill. He had come straight out with it:- I ran and didn't look, period.

X

He sighed. What was done, was done.

They were back together now and if something fishy had been going on with Sam while he was in Purgatory, sooner or later it would come out into the open.

Together they would get things back to how they should be.

Heartened, he glanced back at his brother and shook his head, a smile coming to his face even in his disappointment. Sam's hair had grown longer, hanging down past his shoulders; it would have fit in perfectly on one of those hair ads on TV.

"What," Sam murmured as he noticed Dean's stare and smirk.

"Nothing, man. Nothing!" Dean assured raising his hands placatingly.

Dean didn't see the need to add more fuel to the fire and anyway the more you told Sam his hair was too long, the more he let it grow.

No, keeping quiet was the best method!

X

They were both immersed in their respective thoughts when a knock came to the door.

A silent eye-exchange told the other that no-one was expected and Dean swiftly took up position behind the door while Sam went to open it.

X

The person that was standing on the threshold was one that Sam could never have expected to see again in his wildest dreams. In fact his mouth dropped open as his body tensed for a fight.

"Dean," he called shakily as he studied the man in front of him, the enormity of what he was seeing calling for the solid backing of his older brother.

Dean came round to stand beside him as the two young men stared in disbelief at the familiar face of their father, John Winchester.

"Hello boys," he smiled; the same charismatic smile that his sons remembered so well, and hadn't seen since the day his ghostly form had come forth from the Gates of Hell and helped save their lives.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" he asked as he contemplated the twin expressions of shock on his sons' faces.

X

TBC


End file.
